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Tuesday, 9 September 2014

Tuolumne Meadows to Upper Lyell Forks

11.99 Miles

367m Ascent

After yesterday’s day off (despite it raining) I was
feeling pretty fresh.It had been fairly
cold overnight with a nice layer of frost and a morning temperature of a degree
or two above freezing.The Zpacks
Solplex had stood up to the rain with no issues, though having a bear locker
(campground) meant that I had my rucksack well undercover.

I was on the trail pretty early and there was plenty of
frost in the shade.I thought the slight
chill in the air was perfect!Which
shows how much I had been overheating.Beginning
from the campground the path follows the edge of the Lyell creek, a gorgeously
clear river.

Most of the day would be pretty flat and my general speed
reflected the terrain.I was averaging above
2mph and feeling pretty good.I had time
to relax and sit on a rock!The canyon
is quiet and pretty special.

The river slowly winds along the valley bottom, and is
the clearest water you will have ever seen. A few spots have perfect natural swimming
holes and with the water levels as they are would be pretty safe.

The trail climbs slowly over around 10/11 miles, gaining
less the 100m, before a steep end to the day.Up until this point I had felt good but yet again as soon as the path
got reasonably steep I found myself running out of ‘power’ very easily.I was again reduced to walking a few metres,
having a breather then carrying on.

The last mile and 200 metres of ascent probably took an
hour.I had 2 options to camp at the
Upper Lyell fork crossings, my pace and how I was feeling dictated that I
stopped at the lower one.Ideally I
would have carried on around another 100m higher, just to make the next day’s assault
(!) on Donahue Pass slightly easier.

The camping sport was just after a wooden bridge crossing
the Lyell creek.It was a well-used
popular spot but it was still easy to find a secluded spot.I took around an hour to rest before sorting
out my gear and tent.Boy I was
knackered!